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Home , AIA Group, Baidu, China Mobile, Ping An Insurance, Sina Corp

After being elected to Congress, Donna Shalala bought and sold Chinese stocks and then voted against a motion that would prohibit the Export-Import from providing loans supporting the Chinese Government even though the money could be spent on Chinese spying operations and the stealing of intellectual property and technology from the United States.

Between March and June 2019, Donna Shalala purchased and sold stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 in Mobile Limited, a Chinese state-owned company:

• In March 2019, Donna Shalala purchased stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 in Limited. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In June 2019, Donna Shalala sold stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 in China Mobile Limited. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• China Mobile Limited is a Chinese company, providing mobile services in and . “China Mobile Limited provides mobile telecommunications and related services in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The company offers local calls; domestic and international long distance calls and roaming services; and value-added services, such as caller identity display, call waiting, conference calls, and others. It also provides wireless service, as well as digital applications comprising music, video, reading, gaming, and animation; wireline broadband services; and wireline voice services. In addition, it offers dedicated and IDC services to corporate customers in a range of industry sectors; and basic corporate communication products comprising corporate VPMN and SMS, and tailor made solutions. Further, the company provides international telecommunications services, which includes IDD, roaming, Internet, MNC, and value added business services. Additionally, it offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance, IT system operation, and technology support services; value-added platform development and maintenance services; mobile data, and system integration and development services; network construction and maintenance, network planning and optimizing, and training services; electronic communication products design and sale of related products; and non- banking . It also provides mobile cloud research and development services; call center services; e-payment, e-commerce, and Internet services; and mobile Internet digital content services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. The company serves 950 million mobile customers and 187 million wireline broadband customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited.” (Yahoo! Finance, “China Mobile Limited: Profile,” accessed 8/17/20)

o As a state-owned company, China Mobile acts along with government policy. “Because it is a large state-owned company, China Mobile acts in step with government policy. In late 2013, it was the first company in China to introduce the TD-LTE fourth-generation mobile communications format, developed mainly by local companies. China Mobile is leading the efforts to promote the standard at home, spending huge sums to set up new base stations and introduce handsets compatible with the service.” (Nikkei Asian Review, “China Mobile Ltd: Company Background,” accessed 8/18/20)

In March 2019, Donna Shalala twice invested in the Chinese holding Ping An , valued between $2,002 and $30,000; in June 2019, Shalala sold stock in , valued between $1,001 and $15,000:

• In March 2019, Shalala invested twice in Ping An Insurance, valued between $2,002 and $30,000.

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In June 2019, Shalala sold stock in Ping An Insurance, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• Ping An Insurance is a Chinese holding conglomerate. “Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., is one of the largest financial services companies in the world, with over 200 million retail customers and 574 million Internet users as of June 30, 2019. Ping An focuses on three core financial businesses of insurance, banking and investment. The Group also has fintech and healthtech businesses delivered through companies including Lufax Holding, an online wealth management platform, OneConnect, a fintech service cloud platform for financial institutions and Ping An Good Doctor, a one-stop healthcare ecosystem platform. Ping An provides financial products and services under an integrated financial business model of ‘one customer, multiple products, and one-stop services.’ As China’s first joint stock insurance company, Ping An Group is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate reporting and corporate governance. The Company is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and , China. Ping An ranked 7th on the list and 29th on the list.” (Ping An, “Overview,” accessed 8/17/20) o Ping An is headquartered in , China.

(Eric Panneflek, “Why Investing in Ping An Insurance Group can be Lucrative,” PGM Capital, 11/26/17)

Between February 2019 and June 2019, Donna Shalala purchased and sold stock in AIA Group, a life insurance company based in China:

• In February 2019, Shalala purchased stock in AIA Group, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In April 2019, Shalala partially sold stock in AIA Group, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In June 2019, Shalala sold stock in AIA Group, valued between $15,001 and $50,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• AIA Group is a life insurance company that operates in China. “AIA Group Ltd. is an investment , which engages in the provision of life insurance. It operates through the following geographical segments: Hong Kong, , , Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, Cambodia, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 49 per cent joint venture in India, and a representative office in . The company was founded by in 1919 and is headquartered in Hong Kong.” (Forbes, “AIA Group,” accessed 8/17/20)

Between February 2019 and June 2019, Shalala purchased and sold stock, valued between $1,001 and $15,000, in , Inc., a Chinese multinational that has a history of committing fraudulent activity, extensive , putting profit before the health of Chinese citizens, and is banned in India:

• In February 2019, Donna Shalala purchased stock in Baidu, Inc., valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In June 2019, Donna Shalala sold stock in Baidu, Inc., valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• Baidu, Inc. is a technology company based in China, providing internet services in China and internationally. “Baidu, Inc. provides Internet search services in China and internationally. It operates through two segments, Baidu Core and iQIYI. The Baidu Core segment offers products for uses, including Baidu App to search, feed, and other services using mobile devices; Baidu Search to access its search and other services through its other properties and Union partners; Baidu Feed that provides users with personalized timeline based on their demographics and interests; Haokan, a short video app; and Quanmin, a flash video app for users to create and share short videos. It also provides , a question-and-answer community where questions are asked, answered, and organized by users; Baidu ; Baidu Healthcare Wiki; Baidu Wenku; Baidu Scholar; Baidu Experience; Baidu Post Bar, a social media platform; that offers locations, and intelligent routing and navigation services; Baidu Input Method Editor or Baidu IME, a Chinese-language mobile keyboard; Baijiahao; and DuerOS, a voice assistant platform. In addition, this segment offers online marketing services, which include pay for performance (P4P), an auction-based services that allow customers to bid for priority placement of paid sponsored links and reach users who search for information related to their products or services; other marketing services provides display-based marketing services and other online marketing services based on performance criteria other than cost per click; Apollo, an autonomous driving platform; and Baidu Cloud primarily provides AI solutions, cloud infrastructure, and other services to enterprises and individuals. The iQIYI segment provides online entertainment service, including original and licensed content; membership services; and services. The company was formerly known as Baidu.com, Inc. and changed its name to Baidu, Inc. in December 2008. Baidu, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in , China.” (Yahoo! Finance, “Baidu, Inc.: Profile,” accessed 8/17/20)

o Baidu, Inc. has a history of extensive censorship, and was sued in the United States for violating the U.S. Constitution by censoring pro-democracy speech. “Eight New York residents sued Baidu Inc and the Chinese government on Wednesday, accusing China’s biggest of conspiring with its rulers to censor pro-democracy speech. The eight pro-democracy activists claim violations of the U.S. Constitution and, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, the suit is the first of its type…This censorship suppresses the writings and videos of the plaintiffs to the extent that the materials do not appear in search results, the complaint said. It also violates U.S. laws because the censorship affects searches here, according to the complaint.” (Jonathan Stempel, “China, Baidu Sued In U.S. For Internet Censorship,” Huff Post, 5/19/11) o Baidu, Inc. is reportedly responsible for the death of a student who used their search engine to discover an experimental cancer therapy that killed him. “A Chinese college student recently died of cancer after receiving questionable treatment from a hospital that advertised on search engine Baidu, sparking a huge outcry online in China. Wei Zexi, 21, a college student from Xidian University in northwestern Shaanxi province, died of synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, earlier last month. During the latter period of his life, he received a treatment found in Baidu’s search results at a Beijing hospital. Later he realized the hospital’s claims to cure cancer were dishonest…Wei said he learned of immune therapy from the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police, because it was the first paid advertising result on a Baidu search for treatments….Search engines including , ’s Bing, and Baidu sell ads that come up in search results for different topics. Those ads, or ‘paid search,’ as Baidu calls them, are typically put above organic search results but are clearly delineated. Baidu’s critics say the search engine is accepting ads from unscrupulous companies without vetting their claims.” (Zheping Huang, “Baidu, China’s version of Google, is ‘evil,’ a growing number of users say,” Quartz, 5/2/16)

▪ This is not the first time Baidu has been accused of putting money ahead of the health of their own citizens; in January, the search engine “was found to be profiting by giving ill users biased information through its health chat rooms, known as ‘post bar.’” “It’s not the first time the Chinese search giant, which trades on the and has a market cap of more than $67 billion, has been accused of putting money ahead of Chinese citizens’ health…In January, Baidu was found to be profiting by giving ill users biased information through its health chat rooms, known as ‘post bar.’ As in that case, Wei’s death has sparked calls to boycott all Baidu- owned products from search engines to music streaming.” (Zheping Huang, “Baidu, China’s version of Google, is ‘evil,’ a growing number of users say,” Quartz, 5/2/16) o Baidu, Inc. was discovered to be selling its hemophilia to unqualified hospitals, which had the potential to endanger the health of those who suffer from the disease. “Baidu's announcement came after some Tieba users accused the Internet giant of selling its hemophilia online community to some unqualified private hospitals, a move that could effectively help their reach to potential clients. A user with the nickname ‘Mayicai’ said about 5,000 netizens use the online community to discuss and share effective treatments for hemophilia on Tieba. But selling the online community to unqualified hospitals could endanger the health of whose suffer from the disease.” (Meng Jing, “Baidu to halt commercialization of Tieba health forums,” China Daily, 1/12/16)

▪ As a result of their mistake, Baidu, Inc. announced they would “stop commercialized operation of all of its Tieba forums.” “Baidu Inc said on Tuesday that it will stop monetizing all of its illness-related forums on Tieba, an online community-based group discussion service run by the Chinese search engine giant, after growing concern over the impact brought by commercialization. The United States-listed Baidu said in a statement that it will stop commercialized operation of all of its Tieba forums, which focus on discussing the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. And it said it will invite non-profit organizations to run these online discussion groups, which could influence patients' recovery and wellbeing.” (Meng Jing, “Baidu to halt commercialization of Tieba health forums,” China Daily, 1/12/16) o DO Global, a spin-off of Baidu, was found to be “committing large-scale ad fraud and abusing user permissions” by collecting and sending data to China. “A host of popular Android apps from a major Chinese developer, including a selfie app with more than 50 million downloads, have been committing large-scale ad fraud and abusing user permissions, a BuzzFeed News investigation of popular Android apps has found. In several cases, the apps took steps that concealed their connections to the developer, DO Global, to users and failed to clearly disclose they were collecting and sending data to China.” (Craig Silverman and Jeremy Singer-Vine, “Popular Apps In Google’s Play Store Are Abusing Permissions And Committing Ad Fraud,” Buzzfeed News, 4/17/19)

▪ At least six of the apps from the spin-off of Baidu were committing fraud by “clicking on ads to generate revenue.” “DO Global is a Chinese app developer that claims more than 800 million monthly active users on its platforms, and was spun off from Baidu, one of China’s largest tech companies, last year. At least six of DO Global’s apps, which together have more than 90 million downloads from the store, have been fraudulently clicking on ads to generate revenue, and at least two of them contain code that could be used to engage in a different form of ad fraud, according to findings from and ad fraud researchers and Method Media Intelligence.” (Craig Silverman and Jeremy Singer-Vine, “Popular Apps In Google’s Play Store Are Abusing Permissions And Committing Ad Fraud,” Buzzfeed News, 4/17/19)

▪ Baidu still owned 34% of the company when it was committing fraud. “’You cannot separate the behaviour of DU — spun out of Baidu a year ago, in which they still own 34% — from the US-listed parent,’ he said in an email. ‘Ad fraud is simply the norm in China (and for many other apps), and ... Google should be doing far more to prevent it, even if it would materially reduce sales. They cannot claim ignorance of, or deny the problem.’” (Craig Silverman and Jeremy Singer-Vine, “Popular Apps In Google’s Play Store Are Abusing Permissions And Committing Ad Fraud,” Buzzfeed News, 4/17/19)

• DU was the name of the group when it was fully owned by Baidu. “DO Global is the name of the Chinese app developer that was spun off from Baidu. This story originally identified it as DU Group, which was the name it used when it was part of Baidu and not a standalone entity. It says it has more than 800 million monthly active users on its platforms. This story originally reported it has more than 1 billion, which was the number cited on the previous DU Group site.” (Craig Silverman and Jeremy Singer-Vine, “Popular Apps In Google’s Play Store Are Abusing Permissions And Committing Ad Fraud,” Buzzfeed News, 4/17/19)

• In August 2020, Baidu Inc. was banned in India for national security reasons. “Chinese search engine Baidu Search and social media platform Weibo were blocked by internet service providers and removed from Google and Apple app stores in India on Tuesday, the latest of the total 106 total Chinese apps shut down in the country in recent weeks.” (Savannah Billman, “India widens China app ban to Baidu and Weibo,” Technode, 8/5/20)

During a six-month period, Donna Shalala purchased and sold stock in Holdings, the Chinese technology company accused of being a surveillance arm of the Chinese Communist Party, valued between $1,001 and $15,000:

• In January 2019, Donna Shalala purchased stock in Tencent Holdings, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• In June 2019, Shalala sold stock in Tencent, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• Tencent describes itself as “an internet-based platform company using technology to enrich the lives of Internet users and assist the digital upgrade of enterprises.” “Tencent is an Internet-based platform company using technology to enrich the lives of Internet users and assist the digital upgrade of enterprises. Our mission is ‘Value for Users, Tech for Good’.” (“Tencent,” tencent.com/en-us/, accessed 7/17/20)

• Tencent is considered to be a surveillance arm of the Chinese Communist Party. “And Tencent itself is considered by many experts to be a surveillance arm of the Chinese Communist Party—the United Nations backed out of a partnership with Tencent last month, following a backlash from U.S. officials, and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley called for a ban last week on federal employees’ use of Tencent products because of the alleged national security risks.” (Natasha Bertrand, “Top GOP lawmaker disclosed holdings in Chinese company he criticized,” Politico, 5/7/20)

o Tencent has a deal to set up a laboratory to develop a cloud gaming platform with , the highly controversial Chinese tech firm that has been essentially blacklisted by the United States Commerce Department. “Tencent Holdings, which owns Chinese social media platforms WeChat and QQ, signed a deal to set up a laboratory in March to develop a cloud gaming platform with Huawei, a Chinese tech firm that was essentially blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department last year following Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over threats against U.S. technology.” (Natasha Bertrand, “Top GOP lawmaker disclosed holdings in Chinese company he criticized,” Politico, 5/7/20)

▪ WeChat, owned by Tencent, was reportedly monitoring the activity of Chinese and international users, as well as censoring specific language on the Coronavirus and criticism on Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The University of Toronto’s security research group concluded in a report released on Thursday that WeChat has been monitoring the activity of its international users as well as those inside mainland China. Citizen Lab also found in March that WeChat had been censoring keywords about the coronavirus outbreak and blocking related criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping since January.” (Natasha Bertrand, “Top GOP lawmaker disclosed holdings in Chinese company he criticized,” Politico, 5/7/20)

• Reports from the University of Toronto determined that WeChat was actively monitoring non-China users for political sensitivity, files that were then used to train WeChat’s Chinese political censorship system. “In this report, we present technical experiments which reveal that WeChat communications that are conducted entirely among non-China-registered accounts are subject to content surveillance. We found that documents and images that were transmitted entirely among non-China-registered accounts were analyzed for Chinese political sensitivity. Upon analysis, files deemed politically sensitive were used to invisibly train and build up WeChat’s Chinese political censorship system. We also conducted analysis of WeChat’s public-facing policy documents, made data access requests, and engaged with Tencent data protection representatives to assess whether those methods could also explain, or uncover, the content surveillance carried out towards international users’ communications. We found that none of the information WeChat makes available to users explains the rationales for such surveillance or the transmission of content hashes from WeChat International to WeChat China.” (Jeffrey Knockel et al., “We Chat, They Watch: How International Users Unwittingly Build up WeChat’s Chinese Censorship Apparatus,” University of Toronto – The Citizen Lab, 5/7/20)

• Tencent employees can expect to monitor, censor and report private information that could lead to the arrest and torture of innocent people. “‘Regardless of whether Tencent is a reluctant or an eager accomplice to the Chinese government’s repressive policies, the reality is that Tencent employees can be expected to censor, monitor, and report private communications and personal data, in many cases leading to innocent people’s arrest and torture,’ Cook wrote. ‘This should be the starting point for anyone considering using, regulating, or investing in the company’s services.’” (Natasha Bertrand, “Top GOP lawmaker disclosed holdings in Chinese company he criticized,” Politico, 5/7/20)

• Representative Michael McCaul was criticized for his family’s investments in Tencent. “A top GOP lawmaker tapped to lead a House panel scrutinizing China disclosed his family’s investment in a major Chinese tech company linked to surveillance and censorship, according to a congressional form filed in his name. A periodic transaction report filed on April 20 in the name of Rep. Michael McCaul, who represents Texas’ 10th district and serves as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, lists the purchase of $50,000-$100,000 worth of shares in Chinese tech behemoth Tencent Holdings in late February.” (Natasha Bertrand, “Top GOP lawmaker disclosed holdings in Chinese company he criticized,” Politico, 5/7/20)

In January 2019, Shalala made two partial sales and one full sale of her stock in Weibo, a Chinese social network company:

• On January 11, 2019, Donna Shalala made a partial sale of her stock in Weibo Corporation, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• On January 14, 2019, Donna Shalala made a partial sale of her stock in Weibo Corporation, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• On January 15, Donna Shalala made a full sale of her remaining stock in Weibo Corporation, valued between $1,001 and $15,000. (Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

(Clerk of the House of Representatives, Periodic Transaction Report of Donna Shalala, 4/27/20)

• Weibo Corporation is a Chinese social media company. “Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, distribute, and discover content in the People's Republic of China. It operates in two segments, Advertising and Marketing Services; and Value-Added Services. The company offers discovery products to help users discover content on its platform; self-expression products that enable its users to express themselves on its platform; and social products to promote social interaction between users on its platform. It also provides advertising and marketing solutions, such as social display advertisements; and promoted feeds, such as Super FST, Fans Headline, and Weibo Express, promoted accounts, and promoted trends and search products that enable its customers to promote their brands and conduct marketing activities. In addition, the company offers content, such as TV channels, online video websites, and operators with copyright content through traffic resource exchange and content traffic sharing; MCNs and other self-media to manage and provide services to content creators on Weibo, such as MCNs, unions, and e-commerce partners; other app developers an application platform, which allows users to log into third-party applications; and Weibo Wallet product consists of red envelops and coupons that enables platform partners to conduct interest generation activities on Weibo. The company was formerly known as T.CN Corporation and changed its name to Weibo Corporation in 2012. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Beijing, China. Weibo Corporation is a subsidiary of Sina Corporation.” (Yahoo! Finance, “Weibo Corporation: Profile,” accessed 8/17/20)

o In August 2020, Weibo was banned in India for national security reasons. “Chinese search engine Baidu Search and social media platform Weibo were blocked by internet service providers and removed from Google and Apple app stores in India on Tuesday, the latest of the total 106 total Chinese apps shut down in the country in recent weeks.” (Savannah Billman, “India widens China app ban to Baidu and Weibo,” Technode, 8/5/20)

o Censorship on Weibo was tightened to follow Chinese standards. “ is tightening controls over its popular microblog, called , a move that was clearly taken at the behest of the government…. Its chief executive now merely says the service will establish "mechanisms" to quash false "rumors." One such mechanism involves the company hiring ‘microblog self-discipline officials’ that will police Weibo and delete unwanted content.” (“Beijing’s Weibo Conundrum,” , 9/21/11)

Donna Shalala voted against a motion that would prohibit Export-Import bank from “issuing a loan, guarantee, or insurance that would benefit” the Chinese Government, including the “Chinese intelligence agency” and “illicit transfer of technologies or intellectual property” from the United States:

• Riggleman offered a motion to recommit that would prohibit the Export-Import bank from “issuing a loan, guarantee, or insurance that would benefit” the Chinese Government, including the ‘Chinese intelligence agency’ and ‘illicit transfer of technologies or intellectual property’ from the United States. “Riggleman, R-Va., motion to recommit the bill to the House Financial Services Committee with instructions to report it back immediately with an amendment that would prohibit the Export-Import Bank from issuing a loan, guarantee, or insurance that would benefit the with respect to supporting the People's Liberation Army, Chinese intelligence agency, or policies related to Chinese international development activities, human rights violations, or illicit transfer of technologies or intellectual property from the U.S. It would exempt transactions that would create export opportunities for U.S. small businesses or that are required for exporting humanitarian goods or services.” (CQ Roll Call, “Export-Import Bank Reauthorization – Recommit,” 11/15/2019)

(CQ Roll Call, “Export-Import Bank Reauthorization – Recommit,” 11/15/2019)

• Congressman Riggleman offered a motion to recommit that would prohibit the Chinese Government from getting loans. “(1) In general.--The Agency may not provide a loan, guarantee, or insurance benefitting the Government of China (whether as a lender, obligor, or end user), with respect to which credit assistance from the Agency is first sought after the effective date of this subsection, if the lender, obligor, or end user knowingly provides significant financial, material, technological, or other support to, or significant goods or services in support of any of the following policies, activities, or entities of the Government of China.” (H.R. 4863, Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 183, 11/15/2019)

(H.R. 4863, Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 183, 11/15/2019)

• Congressman Riggleman’s motion specifically cites the theft of the United States’ intellectual property. “(E) The theft of United States intellectual property or the illicit transfer of technology from a United States person.” (H.R. 4863, Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 183, 11/15/2019)

(H.R. 4863, Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 183, 11/15/2019)

• Donna Shalala voted against the motion. (H.R. 4863, Roll Call #623, Failed 203-218: R 194-0, D 9-217, Shalala voted Nay, 11/15/19)

In recent times, there has been a surge in Chinese espionage against the United States and China stealing intellectual property:

• In recent times, there has been a surge in Chinese espionage against the United States. “The Trump administration ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston by Friday, a significant diplomatic escalation between the two rival powers. U.S. officials who spoke to Foreign Policy indicated that the consulate closure is a response to a surge in Chinese espionage in the United States.” (Robbie Gramer and Amy Mackinnon, “U.S. Closes Chinese Consulate in Houston Amid Surge in Chinese Espionage Cases,” Foreign Policy, 7/22/2020)

• According to the United States, China steals intellectual property, something Chinese officials deny. “The United States has long said that intellectual property theft has cost the US economy billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs. Chinese officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly rejected accusations that foreign companies are treated unfairly, arguing any tech secrets handed over were part of deals that had been mutually agreed upon.” (Rishi Iyengar, “America’s top CEOs can’t agree on whether China steals from them,” CNN Business, 7/30/2020)